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December 23, 2017

Christmas Home Tour 2017

I supposed I should try and squeeze this in before it's actually Christmas, huh? 

I've been insanely busy with work, photo shoots & keeping up with Christmas orders so the blog has taken a semi-permanent backseat which makes my heart hurt a little sometimes. 

My goal this year is to try and get back to posting weekly at least. Good one to have, right? 

I thought I'd let you see a peek into the house for Christmas... so here goes...


Starting with my favorite part of the house... our little Christmas mantle set up. 
We've had our stockings for going on three years now and I still love the neutrals with pops of red! 

The "O Holy Night" sign was made last year. I shared a few more details about it in this post

The trees are almost all DIY trees that I've had for several years now. They've held up far better than I imagined they would. The gold branch looking one on the left is the only one that was bought. 


The cute wood slice snowflakes are from a holiday market last year. Possibly my favorite pieces of Christmas decor. I love snowflakes :) 


Our tree this year. Probably the biggest live one we've gotten so far and it's gorgeous! My favorite thing ever is curling up on the couch with a cup of coffee and having the white lights light up the room. 
Don't judge the presents- they are for extended family as well as ours. I just didn't feel like moving them for pictures :) 


Ah, the dining room is so fun for me this year. I kept it light & airy with mostly touches of white and metallics. I thought about a couple pops of red but really loved the clean look of the whites & golds. 


I take it back. This white reindeer may be my favorite piece of decor. Hubby got him last year for me because I. Love. Reindeer. 

Prancer, by the way :) 
The wood slices were from a friend's wedding and perfectly balance out the whites & shimmering golds. 


My first year decorating the buffet after it was painted white. I'll be sharing about it soon. 

More wood tones, whites & golds here :) With couple reindeer of course. 


I made the "Merry Little Christmas" pillows from towels & a runner from the Target Dollar Spot. I have pictures for a tutorial but just haven't had time to post it. 
Super simple though and they were the perfect little pillows for our captain chairs. Can't beat under $5 for two pillows!!!


That gold reindeer head is just fabulous, right?! 
The birch candles were one of the few new things purchased this year. They'll be found in the house year round, I'll bet you. 

Those tiny metallic candles were more Target Dollar finds. 
And the tiny bird statue was a gift from little man from a couple years ago. 


Another quick look at the dining room... so many new things have happened in here this past year. I can't wait to show you the transformation it has gone through!!!



A sneak back into the living room. 

My DIY cabinet door tray was filled with red ornament balls this year. More touches of metallics in it too. I love the red paired with the blue on the coffee table. 

Another pretty reindeer on top of the entertainment center with more wood tones & reds to go with it. 



Honestly, the foyer is a bit busy for me this year but I still like it. 
There were too many fun things to pick from so I overdid it just a tad :) 

I still debate about that rug staying out during christmas but until it's in the budget to have a back up during seasons, it stays. 



Hubby added to my reindeer collection this year by picking up this cute little marquee during Black Friday shopping. I just so happened to have the perfect sized planked frame for it to hang from. Like, literally was sitting in my garage waiting for me to do something with it. Fate, guys. 


More reindeer, wood tones & pops of red & blue on the foyer mantle. 


Those cute little churches were packs of ornaments I got 70% off at Hobby Lobby last year. Perfect for sitting on candlesticks & under cloches. 

The big wooden snowflake is the one hubby made me our first Christmas together. 


The "reindeer crossing' was made last year and the beautiful carved Nativity scene was bought during our family trip to Silver Dollar City this past summer. 

I've been trying in vain to get pictures of our beautiful front porch this Christmas but we've basically had monsoon weather all this past week. It's made for very wet & murky pictures so it may or may not happen this year. 

I hope you guys are enjoying the Holiday season this year and may we all keep in mind the reason to celebrate- the birth of our dear Savior who has come to give us  light and hope. Merry Christmas, dear friends, see you in the New Year!!






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October 13, 2017

Fall Mantle 2017


It may not feel like fall much outside... but I"m making sure that it's starting to feel like fall inside. 
Fall is my favorite time of year- I love it when the weather (finally decides to) change, I love chilly soccer game mornings, hot cups of tea & cuddling under all those blankets that hubby rolls his eyes at. (You can NEVER have too many blankets)

So even if it's 90 degrees outside, I'm going to enjoy some fall decor for a good bit until it's time to break out all things Christmas. 

I thought I'd show you a quick peek into our fall home...



I wanted to stay with a very neutral palette, trying to keep to lots of natural textures, colors & clean whites. I think things are so hectic in life right now that keeping things clean & subtle was a must for my mind right now :) 


The white frames are thrifted finds that have been painted & distressed. The "Apples' sign was a simple DIY a few years back. Grapevine pumpkin & gold leaf were JoAnns finds. The pretty piece of pottery was found at a local craft fair. 


I made the backdrop frame last year (?) I think out of scrap barn wood & chicken wire. Super easy. Super heavy. 

The golden wreath was made in the same way as my Fall Rosette wreath. 
Mirror was another painted thrifted find. 


The dining room gets such pretty light that the neutral/subtle tones just shifted beautifully into this room as well. The table centerpiece happened by accident when I piled pumpkins into that dough bowl to transport them and then decided that I really liked them there :) 

I added a few twirly twigs, burlap leaves & slid an old piece of wood underneath to give it a bit more bulk/length to it. The wood is actually a sign that I wasn't using so I flipped it over to use it another way. 


The buffet is recently painted so I've never had it white for the holidays. I love that I can add color to the top without it feeling so lost & heavy. 
I don't typically go with so many things at once but it gave it an almost flea market/vintage feel to it. 

I love the mix of metallics, glass & various textured pumpkins. 
The metallic candles are all Target dollar bin finds and the pumpkins are from so many different places! I think the dark orange velvet one is my favorite. 


The glass milk bottle was from my dad when he was little so I love having an excuse to put it out. 





Those fabric pumpkins are Target Dollar bin finds from this year!! For a dollar a piece, I bought all I could find. I love the pale green/blue ones!! I'm pretty sure that little sign is Target too. Addiction, much?!



The best thing about our pretty little house is having TWO mantles to decorate. Be still my heart. 

The chalkboard was the perfect centerpiece this go around- I haven't used it in several years so it felt like it was time to bring it out again. You won't believe what it started as!! Check out how I transformed it here

Let's see... the 'give thanks' sign & wooden mirror are Target. The little pumpkins are from various shops. The mirror, post office door & wooden candlestick are thrifted. The two golden signs & orange pumpkin were DIY. 



I still love this little white-washed pumpkin sign. 
Get the how-to on making it here

I had fun adding to my favorite blue table for fall. It makes everything bright & happy. Golds & burlap are the perfect touch for it. 







Ending with one of my simple set-ups. I filled my makeshift tray (put together with an old cabinet door & scrap wood) with metallic candlesticks, candles & pumpkins. A couple marble & copper candlesticks rounded it all together. I love how the light picks up on these pretties!! So so fall. 

How are you guys decorating for fall this year? Are you as into neutrals & metallics as I am at the moment? 

I hope you enjoyed our mini fall home tour. Now I'm off to snuggle up with my blankets & hot tea :) 



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October 06, 2017

Vintage Pantry Door Makeover

Well hello bloggy friends! It's been a bit, huh? 

That's not to say I haven't been creating but things have definitely changed a bit I feel like. 
As much as I love blogging & photography & home decor, I just haven't had the energy & passion for blogging as I once did. I tried for a while to keep up and just found that I needed to step away for a bit. Posts have trickled in bits & pieces and I've been ok with that for now. 

Life has gotten crazier- the kids are so involved in so many things. 
And my creativity has turned more into creating for others lately. I've dabbled a bit in sewing because I love to make my 3 year old fun outfits. Instagram has been my outlet for a while now- posting both on my blog/creative page at Tattered_and_inked as well as posting to my Daughter's page Littlemissmaggiegrace. I love sharing outfit inspirations and mostly supporting handmade shops & mamas!! We have found so many sweet friends through the repping world and my photography passion has had an outlet in creating fun flatlays and photo shoots for my kiddos. I'd love for you to keep up with me on either of those pages!!

But that doesn't mean I haven't been working on house projects...although they have slowed a bit. I chalk it up to mostly being incredibly content. I love mixing things up and changing pieces but after settling into the 'new' house, I've been so content with how a lot of things are. 
I have big plans for some areas though!!! 

One of those areas that I've had in my head since I knew we would have an actual pantry was to replace the builder grade doors with a vintage door. I have been obsessed with this idea since moving in and luckily hubby was very excited about this idea too :) 

Here's what we were wanting to change: 


Wouldn't an antique door look so perfect here???
And the hunt began. 

After visiting tons of antique stores, resale stores & just scouting local online yard sales, we kept coming up short. 
Mainly for two reason: 
1. I really wanted a window of some sort on it. And most of those doors are outdoor doors which mean they are HEAVY. 
2. The measurements of our doorway were in no way conventional so we just couldn't find a door that matched up to what we needed. 

We finally decided to drive out to a further flea market (my favorite one!!) where they had piles of doors. 
We sifted through what seemed like a hundred dirty, grimy doors and still hadn't found one that fit our measurements. 

We decided to wander inside the store a bit and found one tucked in the back of a stall...


Great planning on the picture part, huh? Gotta love how it frames my messy paint collection. Just keeping it real, folks. 

This door was still pretty heavy but not nearly as much as other ones we had found. 
But it still wasn't the right measurements. The height was a bit shorter than what we needed and the sides were too wide. At this point, we felt a little desperate and decided that some modifications may be in order. So we nervously purchased it (vintage doors are NOT cheap, guys) and decided we'd try to make it work. Because that window, ya'll. 

And check out the original distressing & hardware...


First up, we removed all the hardware and sanded it down until it was buttery smooth. I loved the chippy look (that's what I was going for anyways) so I just removed all the flaky pieces and added a little polycrylic to keep everything in place. I didn't want to touch the original wood that was underneath the hardware... some may not like it. But it was magical to me :) 


During distressing I discovered some small layers of aqua blue paint which basically sealed the fact that this was fate for me. 
Originally I wanted to paint the door blue but since the kitchen isn't the way I want it yet (lighter cabinets and the such), I decided the distressed creamy white was just perfect. Someday I'll have a blue island to make up for that. 

Next up, we needed to make up the height problems. For the width, after we removed the hardware, we sliced about an inch off each side of the door. If you are wanting to keep the original handle/lock mechanism, this won't work out great for that. But I wasn't planning on needing it to catch or needing a turning knob. So this worked just fine. Hubby took the edges off while I nervously watched through my fingers, terrified the glass would break. Lol. 

For the height problem we actually solved this pretty easily. We took the edges we had sliced off the door and cut them to the width. We then screwed them into the top & bottom of the door. 


Several advantages to this...
1. No having to match up the paint. We were able to use pieces from the door itself so the paint colors & distressing were the same! 
2. Cost wise, duh. 
3. Perfect depth of the pieces. 

I love the pieced together look, it fits the doors look & I don't feel like it stood out much at all, other than the original hinge marks. But people haven't even noticed it until we've mentioned it :) 


I fogged the window using Frosted Glass Spraypaint on both sides so you wouldn't just see right into our lovely, somewhat organized pantry :) 

Mint blue vinyl was the finishing touch on the door. 


As far as install went, we were less than thrilled to find out that our doorframe is not perfectly squared so when we sliced off that inch, it fit perfectly against the bottom 1/3 of the doorframe and had a spreading gap between the frame & the door all the way up. Grrrrr. 
I nearly cried when we found that out. 

After a little creativity, cuss words & trial & error, we managed to minimize the gap by adding a few washers in the screws on the top two hinges. This managed to bring the door closer to the frame, enough that it wasn't nearly as noticeable. 


As far as the hardware goes, I found the perfect handmade pull when we were in Silver Dollar City over the summer. The local blacksmith there had some gorgeous pulls and I felt like it fit the door perfectly!! I kinda love the original holes left by the pull before. 

And not pictured is the most perfect vintage-inspired 'pull' sign I snagged from Hobby Lobby that we installed right above the handle to cover the huge hole left from the locking mechanism. It was the perfect fit! I'll try to get more pictures of it later- it took me a while to find it so I got excited about getting pictures :) 





The door stays in place with the original ball catches from the doors that were there previously. We just removed them from those doors and screwed them into the new door. 

The doorframe will need to be painted to match a little closer later on but we aren't tackling that until we decide what to do with the kitchen :) 

For now, check out the before & after of our pretty new door!!!
We've had it installed for several months now, pulled & leaned on DAILY and it has held up amazing!!! 
I can't tell you how happy it makes my heart having a bit more of a vintage touch in the  kitchen!!


I'll be back soon, I promise, with my fall mantle up so be checking back!! Happy Friday friends!!!



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July 03, 2017

Princess Tea Cart Table Makeover

How many girl mamas in the house?!? 
Please tell me that I'm not the only one who has a little girl that is princess obsessed!!

We are all about all things girly, twirly & pink over here. 

She tells everyone that it's almost her 'birt-day' and it'll be 'Belle'. 
And, yes, expect that post late August because we will be partying it up with Mrs. Potts & the crew for her big 3!!

In the meantime, we have lots of dress-up, wand waving & clacky, plastic shoes that have become our everyday routine lately :) 

This little project came about because of two happy accidents. 

Number 1 being that we've had a couple hundred tea parties & it seemed necessary that we picked them up a notch- because, why not?!

And 2 being that I had this little guy hanging around the garage while I waited to see what I was going to do with it. 


This one was a freebie given to me by a coworker who didn't want it anymore. 
I almost didn't take it because I didn't have an instant inspiration moment but luckily I snagged it anyways. 


It needed a little love before painting. 
I sanded it done to smooth out stains, marks & some rough areas. 
Some of the faux wood trim around the edges was peeling away so I wood-glued those suckers back on and allowed it to dry under painters tape for a bit before taking that off. 

I tightened all the legs & then went for it. 

A princess cart calls for princess pink, right?! 


I used 'ballet pink' rustoleum spraypaint I believe. It was a can I had lying around so when I asked hubby to snag another can on his way home because I had a few places to touch up, he couldn't find anything matching it. 

Negative points for Lowes right there. 

I ended up finding some dark pink sample paint, lighted it up with some white paint and was able to make it all work. 
Score one for keeping all the extra paint forevverrr. 


Funny story, Hubby also grabbed some mini casters while at Lowes when he had the fail with the spraypaint. And the casters didn't work either.

I rummaged around the garage in my spare parts drawer and somehow managed to find FOUR identical spare casters I had lying around. The exact size and style I needed.

I mean, if that's not fate- what is??

I taped off the wheels and spraypainted the casing gold. I got incredibly lucky in that this little table had had casters on it at some points in it's life so it already had holes drilled into the bottom of the feet. I hammered my casters in and they were the perfect fit. 

Fate, guys. 

And I had to tell hubby that everything he bought me on the way home from work didn't work but SURPRISE I found everything in the garage. Sorry, hun, for spending money when we already had it. 
Face palm. 


Fate struck a third time in finding these gorgeous, scrolly pulls in the spare parts drawer too. I keep all old hardware I pull off of pieces.
And sometimes, I'll stop to get hardware off completely destroyed pieces I've seen on the roadside just because... you can't find them like that anymore. 

I spraypainted them gold, predrilled the holes into the top & attached the pulls. 
Because every tea cart needs tiny gold handles :) 


Isn't it the perfect fit for her Belle tea party set? 

How about a little before & after? 


I can't wait to use it at her party too for a perfect little tea prop! 
She was so excited when I rolled it in, I thought maybe I should have saved it as a gift for her party.

But we are having way too much fun with our pretend tea parties now, that I'm glad I gave it to her early! 

She rolls it from room to room & offers tea & whatever random items she finds for 'nacks' to give out. 

Look at this happy little princess...


What do you think of our little table makeover? 
The fun thing is, Goodwill & flea markets usually have similar tables for pretty cheap that I've seen. So be on the look out!!








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